Charles Adrian Macfie Maynard (Appellant) v Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited and another (Respondents)

Permission to Appeal application lodged

Case summary
Permission to Appeal
Previous proceedings

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0101

Parties

Appellant(s)

Charles Maynard

Respondent(s)

THAMES WATER UTILITIES HOLDINGS LIMITED

THE MEMBERS OF AN AD HOC GROUP OF CLASS A CREDITORS

Issue

Whether a restructuring plan which satisfied all the jurisdictional requirements of Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 should nevertheless have been declined sanction by the court on the basis that the ‘public interest’ would be better served by the entry of Thames Water Utilities Limited into a special administration regime, notwithstanding that this view was not shared by the Secretary of State or OfWat.

Facts

The First Respondent’s operating subsidiary, Thames Water Utilities Limited (“TWUL”), is appointed as a water and sewerage undertaker by the Secretary of State and is the largest water and sewerage company in the UK. The First Respondent’s corporate group has been facing serious financial difficulties for some time. On 21 February 2025, the High Court sanctioned a restructuring plan (“the Plan”) for TWUL proposed by the First Respondent. In the High Court, the judge found that the Appellant had standing to appear at the sanction hearing as an intervener to assist the Court with public interest and customer interest objections to the Plan. The Appellant and certain opposing creditors subsequently appealed the High Court’s decision to sanction the Plan. The Appellant objected to the Plan on the basis that it was not in the public interest because the Plan would load an unwarranted further debt burden onto TWUL. He argued that the customers of Thames Water and the wider public would be better served by TWUL going into a special administration regime (“SAR”), as the costs associated with a SAR would be lower than the costs of the Plan. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals (save in one respect) and refused to grant permission to appeal. The relevant parts of the Court of Appeal’s judgment are to be found between paragraphs 170 and 223. The Appellant now appeals directly to the UK Supreme Court. The opposing creditors do not seek permission to appeal.